MUMBAI – Hindu extremists have a plan or two up their sleeve for Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik.
The Indian tennis star has decided to marry the ex Pakistan cricket captain and this has not gone down well with Hindu extremists such as Shiv Sena, which has organised protest rallies all over India in which posters and effigies of the bride and groom were set alight.
Though the Sena does not have a good enough presence in Hyderabad it is doing everything possible to make its presence felt on the D Day of Sania’s marriage. It is believed that there would be a protest organized by the Sena in conjunction with many other Hindu extremist groups near the hotel where the marriage would take place.
Bal Thackeray is said to be fuming ever since the news of the marriage broke in the media earlier this week.
‘They are attacking us with their terrorists, they are kicking us out of Afghanistan, they are sidelining us at major global summits and conferences, and now they are stealing our women? Is India a land of neuters that she has to go find a man in Pakistan to marry? (India mai kya hijray rehte hai jo woh mard dhoondne Pakistan gaee hai)’, Said Bal Thackeray this morning.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) which is known for its violence against North Indians in the state of Maharashtra has also joined in the chorus.
The MNS is headed by Raj Thackeray, nephew of Bal Thackeray, who had split from the Shiv Sena in 2006.
‘We’ll see how this Pakistani takes our girl. This is an insult and we will not let this happen at any cost’, Raj Thackeray is reported to have said.
It is believed that Sania and her family will be enhancing the security arrangements of the marriage as Shoaib’s family from Pakistan could be targeted.
After reports of threats made by the Hindu Extremist party, Shiv Sena, against the Australian cricket team, the Australian government and media are now very concerned about the safety of their players in India. So they should be. This threat was issued in reaction to incidents of random violent attacks against Indian nationals in some Australian cities. While the concern of the Indian government about the safety of its citizens is justified, it should be noted that Shiv Sena or the Army of Lord Shiva, is the same right wing Hindu extremist political party that has over the past years orchestrated violence against minorities in India, intimidated political opponents and carried out a reign of terror and intimidation against anyone who dares to speak against their hate-mongering leader Mr. Bal Thackeray. Hence if Bal Thackeray has issued a threat against the visitors, it is indeed a worrisome development for the international community in terms of the security of their players during the Commonwealth games which are to be held in India this year. There is a long list of heinous acts of violence that have been perpetrated by Hindu extremist parties like Shiv Sena for decades in India.
Those who oppose Vande Mataram should go to Pakistan: Uddhav Thackeray
MUMBAI: Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray Wednesday hit out at the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind for issuing fatwa against singing Vande Mataram saying that those who oppose the national song should go to Pakistan.
In a statement issued here, Thackeray said that the fatwa was issued in the presence of Union home minister P Chidambaram which shows that the Centre has indulged into minority appeasement.
“If anti-national fatwas are issued in the presence of the Union home minister then there is no future for this country. It looks like the Centre has a policy of Muslim appeasement for votes,” the Sena leader alleged.
He said Vande Mataram is not just two words but a flame to invoke nationalism. “If you don’t want to salute the motherland, then whom do you salute? What is the shame in saluting Bharatmata? Those who don’t want to salute Bharatmata should go to Pakistan, Bangladesh. There is no place for such traitors in India,” Thackeray said.
He asked his party members to put up ‘Vande Mataram’ boards all over Maharashtra. Such fatwas create tensions between Hindus and Muslims, he added.
Jaipur: The RSS said on Tuesday that Hindutva is the “identity” of the country and asked the people to be proud of it.
“Our identity is Hindutva and the people should be proud of it. The society should work for removal of evils and the welfare of the country,” RSS chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat said while addressing volunteers at a gathering in Jaipur. “India is a Hindu nation, which is an eternal fact,” he claimed.
Amid chants of Jai Shri Ram, the young face of BJP and the scion of Nehru-Gandhi delivered not just a speech of extreme vitriol but threatened to kill and cut heads and hands.
Raising his hands, he repeatedly said that this not the Congress’ symbol of hand but is the BJP’s arm that will behead these kat**** (extremely derogatory word which is a highly offensive slang to describe the community). Unsurprisingly, Varun Gandhi has received support from Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray who has lauded his statements.
In an editorial of party mouthpiece Saamna, Thackeray wrote, “Whatever he has said is completely true and he should not be apologetic about it.”
Excerpts from Varun Gandhi’s speeches
Yeh panja nahi hai, yeh kamal ka haath hai. Yeh kat** ke galey ko kaat dega chunaav ke baad. Jai Shri Ram! Ram ji ki jai! Varun Gandhi kaat daalega! Kaat denge us haath ko, kaat denge, kaat daalega!
Its a sad state of affairs when our own government defends the actions of our enemies when instead we should demand action and threaten air-strikes at the bases of VHP, RSS, Bajrangdal etc. Watch this eye-opening video:
Concerned by “religion inspired violence”, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has shot off a letter to 13 Muslim organizations requesting them to issue a fatwa declaring India as a friend of Islam, ‘Dar-Ul-Amn’, against which ‘jihad’ should not be waged.
The dual linkage of young Indian officers with both military and Hindu fascist organizations has caused a cancer to the military establishment in India. It has brought elements into Indian military who have their own goals which do not conform well with military discipline. An army with irrepressible elements is as dangerous to any country as its real enemy’s army can be or even more. Officers like Gen (R) Premnath Hoon joined Indian army decades ago and served at different posts all the way to rank of General before he retired. What is revealing that he was one of the founding fathers of military wing of Shiv Sena. This also proves that either before joining or during his service in military he established links with Shiv Sena but what is more important is that he was not alone in this venture but there was active support from Indian military through his contacts he made during service like Colonel Jayant Chitale who was also in charge in military selection center at Pune for many years.
Just outside the Nawab Masjid mosque in Bhindi Bazaar, in Mumbai, worshippers have laid long strips of blue plastic as temporary prayer mats. Among the faithful is Gulzar Azmi, who spends much of his time defending some of the terrorism-case suspects who he says have been framed by the police. And he insists the system is still biased against Muslims.
“When a Muslim sets off a firework, even then they say it’s a bomb,” Mr Azmi complains.
“The government says one thing and does another… they pretty much treat Indian Muslims like second-class citizens. When a Hindu commits a crime they get charged with lesser offences. It’s the opposite for Muslims,” he says.
“It was only in September last year that the government finally accepted that Hindus are also responsible for bomb attacks,” he concludes. “Before that they’d never acknowledged that it could happen.”
New Delhi, Feb. 17: The United Nations has warned of a “very real risk” of a repeat of the 2002 Gujarat riots in the country unless politicians stop exploiting communal distinctions, in a report that presents a dim picture of religious intolerance in India.
The world body’s latest report on religious freedom paints India as a country suffering from communal divisions and mob-inspired persecution, and dwells at length on incidents like the recent violence against Christians in Orissa and the 2002 riots.
The charge sheet filed in a Mumbai court on January 20 against 11 members of the radical Hindu group Abhinav Bharat – including a serving Military Intelligence officer, a retired Indian Army Major, and nine other activists – has brought the growing landscape of Hindu terrorist cells in India into the open (The Hindu, January 21).
In the last decade a few radical Hindu groups have carried out systematic hate campaigns against minority communities, particularly India’s 150 million Muslims, including mob violence (as in Gujarat in 2002) and bombings (such as the 2004 blast in Nanded, Maharashtra). The September 29, 2008, Malegaon bomb attack in which the Hindu militants are charged was the first sophisticated bombing to be planned and executed by a Hindu terrorist group (Times of India, January 20).
Pursuing the Hindu Rashtra
The Malegaon bombing was intended to be the first of a series of attacks the group had planned throughout India to establish a “Hindu Rashtra,” or Hindu India. The 4,528-page charge sheet, citing 389 witnesses, accused Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, self-styled religious preachers Sadhvi Pragnya Singh and Dayanand Pandey (a.k.a. Swami Amritanand), and others of executing a bomb blast in Malegaon, a Muslim-dominated city in Maharashtra, one of India’s prosperous west coast states. The bomb, strapped to a motorcycle, killed six persons and injured more than 70. The accused have been charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA), a tough law that has survived criticism while other severe laws fell after intense public scrutiny.
After a long time, AR Antulay has spoken, and he has shaken the Mumbai Police version of the 26th November terror attack.
If there is a question mark over who sent Karkare literally to his death, and this is what the Minority Affairs Minister essentially said, than there is a question mark about Kasab’s statement that Ismail and he killed Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kaamte — which means there is a question mark over the entire Police version of the 26th November attack as such.
In what is clearly a blow to India’s case against Pakistan, Interpol today has confirmed that India has so far not provided any real evidence to back up their allegations that the Mumbai attackers came from Pakistan.
Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble, who is in Islamabad, said its only knowledge of what happened had come from the media.
Pakistan says it also has had no firm information from Delhi, and that India has not provided ample evidence for arrest of any accused of the Mumbai attacks.
India claims Pakistani militants carried out the attacks, which left more than 170 people dead. Only one of the 10 gunmen, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, survived and he is in Indian custody.
On Monday India handed a letter to Pakistan it says was written by Mr Qasab, confirming he is Pakistani and asking for Islamabad’s help.
Earlier, the FBI had also rejected Indian claims that Pakistan’s Intelligence Agencies were involved in the Mumbai Attacks.
With India fast losing ground on its campaign to get Pakistan listed as a Terrorist state, there is a serious possibility of its Air Force attempting to carry out ‘surgical strikes’ in a desperate bid to ease the pressure on its government from right wing Hindu Nationalist groups calling for an all out war on Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Armed Forces continue to remains on a high alert to face any aggression from India.
Investigate first before pointing fingers: China to India
Both China and Iran have come out to support Pakistan’s stance at this critical time.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that the question of “where the terrorists are from” is a matter that will be known after proper investigations. He was replying to a question about India’s concerns that terrorists in the Mumbai attack came from Pakistan and Islamabad’s refusal to accept it.
Earlier, India had complained about leading Iranian news agencies being largely sympathetic towards Pakistan and insinuating that India has been acting under the influence of the US.
It is at times like these that you know who your friends are, and they’re not in the US or UK.
You had one Mumbai, we have a ‘Mumbai’ every day.
Kasab’s letter wouldn’t be accepted as evidence in any court: Ayaz Amir
Pakistani Journalist Ayaz Amir said on CNN-IBN today that the letter given to Pakistan which India says is Kasab’s confession, wouldn’t even stand in Indian courts. India doesn’t seem serious to get to the bottom of who actually carried out the Mumbai Attacks. They’re more interested in putting International pressure on Pakistan.
Despite harping on about having given Pakistan proof – the reality is that the ‘evidence’ so far presented amounts to ONE letter, a confession statement given to the police, which wouldn’t even be accepted as evidence in Indian courts as per the Indian Penal code.
MUMBAI: Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray Wednesday hit out at the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind for issuing fatwa against singing Vande Mataram saying that those who oppose the national song should go to Pakistan.
Jaipur: The RSS said on Tuesday that Hindutva is the “identity” of the country and asked the people to be proud of it.
Raising his hands, he repeatedly said that this not the Congress’ symbol of hand but is the BJP’s arm that will behead these kat**** (extremely derogatory word which is a highly offensive slang to describe the community). Unsurprisingly, Varun Gandhi has received 
New Delhi, Feb. 17: The United Nations has warned of a “very real risk” of a repeat of the 2002 Gujarat riots in the country unless politicians stop exploiting communal distinctions, in a report that presents a dim picture of religious intolerance in India.
The charge sheet filed in a Mumbai court on January 20 against 11 members of the radical Hindu group Abhinav Bharat – including a serving Military Intelligence officer, a retired Indian Army Major, and nine other activists – has brought the growing landscape of Hindu terrorist cells in India into the open (The Hindu, January 21).
